Creative people, who do create art, do not need any ideal conditions for their work We will tell you how to transform an abandoned building into a studio.

Artem Lukianchuk is 25, he is from the village of Vydranytsia, Ratno district, Volyn oblast. He graduated from the Institute of Art (Lesia Ukrainka Eastern European National University) in 2015. He has loved painting and drawing since childhood, he has always been an introvert and could express his inner world only on canvas. Now Artem lives in Lutsk, there he paints his pictures and participates in exhibitions. Now and then his father takes him to some other countries to make renovations and repairs.

“Recently we’ve been to Moscow to earn money and I took my painting kit with me. During breaks I painted pictures. Once the owner of the flat saw my work and asked about its price. Without thinking twice I told that it cost 500 dollars. It was the most expensive picture of mine, – the boy shared his memories with us”.

Once this house used to be a Polish mansion, then it was used as stalls. And the most incredible fact is that for a long time this building has been used as a hospital for people with venereal diseases.

Now Artem’s studio is like a separate country with its own laws and rules. Just near the entrance, on the left, a lot of pictures of different sizes stand on the floor. There are an old wardrobe with numerous small photos hanging on it, a shelf made of an old TV-set, two bicycles, a lonely lamp instead of a chandelier, an electric cooker, neatly-made sofa, a desk, a box with paints, brushes and other stuff needed for painting and creativity.

“If you want to paint a good picture of a woman, you should feel at least a bit of sympathy and love towards her”

“In my pictures you can see my friends whom I love and respect, I’ve known them for quite a long time. We have good relationships,that is why they were able to trust me, to open to me, I would say. Some works of mine are nude figure drawings. For amateur models to make this first step in their lives means to trust the artist, to feel more uninhibited. So there was kind of emotional bond between us”.

“I have everything ahead of me, all roads are open, I plan to develop myself. I think my workshop provides a good opportunity for self-realisation. Yes, the conditions are far from being perfect, but it is free”.

We thanked Artem and said good-bye, but when we were leaving the building, he was sitting on the window-sill on the second floor. He waved to us and took out a cigarette. He was looking somewhere, probably thinking about an idea for a new picture.